This invention relates to a system for installing aluminum panels to exterior walls of a building, and in particular, provides an efficient mechanism for attaching such panels effectively, at minimum labor and material cost, and with minimum moisture problems.
Exterior wall panel systems for finishing or refinishing the exteriors of commercial and/or industrial buildings are well known. One commonly-used panel system is based on aluminum/plastic/aluminum composite pan-like panels in which each panel has a skin of aluminum as the exterior of the panel system.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,471 relates to a panel wall system employing a multiplicity of pan-like rectangular panels arranged side by side and end to end in closely spaced relation. That system, like the present invention, can be secured to an existing exterior wall of a building or alternatively to a metallic structure, metal studs, screwed to the outside wall. The system disclosed in the '471 patent requires at least three individual parts for field installation, and that system, when assembled to a building, fails to adequately prevent water from seeping behind the wall panels and becoming lodged and trapped between the panels and the exterior surface of the building to which the panels are attached. Ineffective drainage of such water ultimately presents serious decay/rust problems and can, over time, degrade panel wall installations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a panel system attachable to the exterior of a building, whether attached directly to the outside wall or to the system of metal stud work, which is easy and inexpensive to install, comprises relatively few field parts and which prevents water and/or moisture from collecting behind and between the panels and the exterior of the building to which the panels are attached.
An object of the present invention is to provide a paneling system for a building in which the assembly of individual panel assemblies to an exterior wall or a metallic stud structure can be accomplished quickly, with minimum labor and yet provide sufficient structural strength and rigidity to be durable and long lasting. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a panel-like system wherein the water or moisture which may become accidently trapped behind the sealant located between adjacent panels will, nevertheless, be redirected out to the outside by guttering splices which serve to connect channelways or passageways of adjacent pairs of panels. In this way the removal of any such water or moisture is facilitated. The male and female channel members, when attached to the flanges of the pan-like panels, provide additional structural strength and rigidity to the panels and enhance durability during installation and, in addition, provide for long lasting structural integrity over various weather conditions.